Bungalow

ARTICLES ABOUT BUNGALOW BY DATE - PAGE 3

With the new year comes new opportunities for owners of historic Chicago Bungalows and others interested in home improvements to learn about rehab, preservation and energy efficiency. The Historic Chicago Bungalow Association's seminar series gives homeowners the resources they need to improve and preserve their homes. With an emphasis on money-saving and cost-effective improvements, topics in spring 2010 will range from remodeling and green initiatives to landscaping and masonry, and will provide a monthly guide for home projects, both indoors and out. Seminars will take place throughout the city and will feature experts on preservation, rehabilitation, energy efficiency and financing.

Its exterior is classic California bungalow with beveled siding, wood-trimmed windows and a cheery gabled roof. But inside the Venice house, owners David and Jennifer Ritch and their two children live with clean lines, an open floor plan and modern furnishings. Can the two styles -- cottage and contemporary -- coexist? How can 1906 California architecture meld with the design preferences of its 2009 occupants? The Ritches asked themselves those questions when they decided not to demolish a 950-square-foot bungalow that the city of Los Angeles had already cited as a public eyesore.

Smack in the middle of a quiet, leafy block of bungalows in Chicago's South Shore neighborhood stands a foreclosed property that's about to be transformed into a model of energy efficiency. The soon-to-be "green" model is in the 7600 block of South Cregier Avenue, which has just been designated the 2009 Green Bungalow Block by the Historic Chicago Bungalow Association, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving the estimated 80,000 bungalows throughout Chicago that were built in the 1920s.

Last week we told you about a made-over bungalow. This week: how to get a prize for making over yours. Nominations for the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Bungalow Awards are being accepted until Aug. 28. The $750 awards are given in five categories -- interior restoration, interior rehabilitation, exterior rehabilitation, green project and landscape design. Rooms or an entire home can be nominated, and the bungalows must first be certified by the Historic Chicago Bungalow Association.

Eve Fineman grew up on the East Coast, where you don't see block after block of Chicago-style bungalows. You don't even see bungalows. "They don't really exist there," she says. But she has always liked the style ("they're sort of a pared-down version of arts and crafts architecture"), so when it came time to buy a home, the choice was obvious. She settled on a 1926-vintage bungalow in the Mayfair neighborhood on the Northwest Side. When she bought it in 2001, the house needed work.

Take a drive through Jefferson Park and it's Chicago bungalows as far as the eye can see. Gentrification has yet to reach this neighborhood on the Northwest Side. A number of police officers and firefighters live in the community (which I toured with the help of Baird & Warner real estate agent Steven Heilig) and the feeling is definitely old school, in a good way. Personally, I have a predilection for older homes with modern updates, and I saw a tempting and beautifully rehabbed bungalow on North Lovejoy Avenue situated on a double lot with a sizable yard and a sweet water fountain out front.

A rollercoaster of a business, home building is a difficult one to ride long-term. The 1990s boom enticed people of all stripes to buy tickets. Then, the bust of the 2000s sent many back to the ticket booth for refunds. One of the few builders with a decades-long pass for this ride is Gallagher and Henry in Countryside. Founded in 1954 by brothers-in-law Robert Gallagher, a produce buyer, and Daniel Henry, a bricklayer, the company is in its second generation of management and third generation of buyers.

By Margaret Ramirez and Robert Mitchum, Tribune reporters | June 9, 2009

The secret collection John Sisto kept in his Berwyn bungalow had letters written by kings, Vatican documents penned by Catholic popes and even a handwritten book preface by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. In all, federal officials found an astounding treasure-trove of about 3,500 ancient artifacts, religious relics, rare manuscripts and other historic items after Sisto's death in March 2007. Federal officials said Monday that the results of a two-year investigation determined that 1,600 of those items were stolen from Italy and shipped to the U.S. to be sold.

By Joseph Ruzich, Special to the Tribune and Tribune reporters Art Barnum and Jeff Coen contributed to this report | June 6, 2009

Many of the more than 3,000 religious artifacts, books and antiquities found in a Berwyn bungalow after the owner's death two years ago were illegally removed from Italy and will be returned, the FBI said in a news release on Friday. Italian immigrant John Sisto was known as a collector of art and rare books but the size and scope of the treasure his sons found in the 78-year-old widower's house on South Elmwood Avenue generated interest not only from his neighbors and other collectors but from the Italian government, Berwyn police and the FBI. On Friday, the FBI said in a news release, "Many of the items ... were determined to have been removed illegally from Italy and will be repatriated to Italian authorities later next week."

The stars must've been aligned for Ann Filmer when she moved to Berwyn two years ago. In addition to finding a comfortable, affordable home in this nearby suburb, she found a new job in a community ready to embrace her talents. Filmer and her husband, Barry Bennett, are both professional artists: She's a theater director; he's a musician. After years of plying their trades in Chicago, the couple had a daughter and started looking for a house. They cast their gaze from Humboldt Park to the suburbs, quickly ruling out Oak Park and Forest Park as too expensive.